Quick Review: Chanel Pro Lumiere Foundation – Je n’aime pas!

May 14, 2009 |

It happened to me, its probably happened to you.

You went to the shop for X item and end up coming out with Y item. You loved it, or you hated it. In my case, its generally a hate thing, but in the UK we don’t get to just return make up even if its rubbish. But how I wish we could because I have about 15 foundations, and I don’t know when I will finish them all.

But I digress. I went for Chanel Mat Lumiere Foundation, because I had tested a sachet and it gave a lovely finish. Once I was in there, a very sweet SA, which a twinkling name – lets give him a new identity – I’ll call him Javid Jarkle – insisted that I take Pro Lumiere home instead because its what they used on the catwalks.

(I can’t find my photo of the foundation, so I’ve had to use a naff stock photo).

I have been using it long enough now to give it a fair review – and I don’t like! Because:

1. Its giving me little spots. I don’t have perfect skin, but still, when I use it, I itch.

2. Its fragranced. Base does not need purfume! It just doesn’t

3. The shading system is annoying. In the UK the shades in the mid tone area go from Clair (very light) to Cendre (light-medium) to Beige (dark). I am between Cendre and Beige – it was like, would you like to be a bit pale or a bit darker? Mmmm I’d like to be kind of…neither?

4. This is the worst thing. I know the Pro Lumiere is supposed to give a GLOW and I love a bit of shine as opposed to matte. But within a few hours my face looks like I have been rubbing it against a bar of lard. It’s not just the shine (there’s good shine and bad shine right? This is bad shine) – its the greasiness. I have to blot my face with tissue – it does this funny thing on my skin that Nars’ foundation also did – where I get clumpys of foundation congealing on my dry-combo skin.

5. It ain’t cheap!

On the plus side:

It has SPF 15 It comes in a nice bottle

I was going to say that I would recommend this for drier skins, but I do have dry skin too.

Je ne sais pas quoi me dire ainsi ne dirai rien du tout.*

*Take up the rubbish french with Babelfish and my horrible GCSE French teacher, ne me blâmez pas!

Comments

I’d like to suggest that you get a Nordstrom card and buy products from them. I have little doubt they would ship to Britain and they takes things back for whatever reason. They are great – you can discuss colors and such on-line with a live person, get your products, and send back what doesn’t work. They will also send samples of everything and not try and talk you out of what you want. They are swell.